Influenza & FluMist Vaccinations
Tetanus (Tdap) Vaccinations
Hepatitis A & B Vaccinations
Mantoux Testing & Readings for Tuberculosis
Meningococcal Vaccinations
MMR (Measels, Mumps & Rubella) Vaccinations
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccinations
Pneumonia (Pneumococcal) Vaccinations
Rabies Vaccinations
Shingles Zoster Vaccinations
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Rabies Vaccinations
This vaccination is for the prevention of rabies transmission. It is given in a series of 3 doses at 0, 7 days and 21-28 days. Rabies is a serious disease that can lead to death.
Recommendations: this vaccination is recommended for those individuals whose employment involves working with animals or in those individuals who work or explore caves and may be exposed to bat droppings. Contact us for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is rabies?
Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. Domestic animals account for less than 10% of the reported rabies cases, with cats, cattle, and dogs most often reported rabid.
What are the symptoms and complications?
Rabies virus infects the central nervous system, causing encephalopathy and ultimately death. Early symptoms of rabies in humans are nonspecific, consisting of fever, headache, and general malaise. As the disease progresses, neurological symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Death usually occurs within days of the onset of symptoms.
How do people get rabies?
People usually get get rabies from the bite of a rabid animal. It is also possible, but quite rare, that people may get rabies if infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets directly into their eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound.
Can I get rabies in any way other than an animal bite?
Non-bite exposures to rabies are very rare. Scratches, abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes contaminated with saliva or other potentially infectious material (such as brain tissue) from a rabid animal constitute non-bite exposures. Occasionally reports of non-bite exposure are such that postexposure prophylaxis is given.
Inhalation of aerosolized rabies virus is also a potential non-bite route of exposure, but other than laboratory workers, most people are unlikely to encounter an aerosol of rabies virus.
Other contact, such as petting a rabid animal or contact with the blood, urine or feces (e.g., guano) of a rabid animal, does not constitute an exposure and is not an indication for prophylaxis.
Why should I get a preexposure vaccination?
Preexposure prophylaxis is given for several reasons. First, although preexposure vaccination does not eliminate the need for additional therapy after a rabies exposure, it simplifies therapy by eliminating the need for human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) and decreasing the number of doses needed - a point of particular importance for persons at high risk of being exposed to rabies in areas where immunizing products may not be readily available. Second, it may protect persons whose postexposure therapy might be delayed. Finally, it may provide partial protection to persons with inapparent exposures to rabies.
Rabies Vaccination Information Statement (PDF 68KB)
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